


take a shot

by kaaogami (ghoulnoace)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:55:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10398009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghoulnoace/pseuds/kaaogami
Summary: Where Taiga gets hit on one too many times and he hates it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I am a procrastinator :D

 

The bar is already packed when he steps in, bodies in varying degrees of sobriety dancing and grinding against each other on the small dance floor. He should have expected that, since it’s a weekend and the place is a really popular hangout in the area.

Going to the convenience store to grab a pack of beer, even though it’s a couple more blocks away, is looking more and more like a better idea now. He’s on his way back towards the exit to do just that when he hears his name being called.

“Kagami-kun!”

Taiga turns towards the counter and sure enough, he sees Kuroko behind it, waving at him to come over. He sighs, figuring the bouncer at the door alerted the other to his presence, and makes his way towards the other side of the room.

He’s a couple of feet away from the bar when a woman with a dress perhaps two sizes too small steps in front of him.

“Hey handsome!” she shouts over the music, “Care to dance?” Then she sways, almost violently, and Taiga reaches out an arm to steady her. She laughs at that, high and grating. When he’s sure she won’t fall over, he steps back, circles around her, and throws a _‘Sorry’_ over his shoulder.

Kuroko’s talking to a guy. He’s standing with his back towards Taiga, but even through the low light he can see that the guy’s tall, maybe even taller than him, and has dark hair. Kuroko says something, and the guy laughs, the sound impossible to hear over the pumping bass and the distance, but still evident from the way his wide and muscled shoulders underneath his tight shirt rise and fall in quick succession. His shirt isn’t the only thing that’s tight, Taiga notes as his eyes drift down.

He nearly bumps into another girl dancing too far out of the dance floor, but he dodges just in time. When he faces forward again, the guy Kuroko has been talking to is gone, probably swallowed up by the crowd.

“Hey Kuroko,” he says as he sits on a stool at the far end of the bar, away from the other patrons and the noise.

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko greets him back, a small smile on his lips. “Just got off work?”

Taiga grimaces at the reminder of why he’s here in the first place. “Yeah,” he sighs. “Had a bad day.”

“You want the usual then?” Kuroko asks, inclining his head when Taiga grunts an affirmative.

While Kuroko fetches him a glass, he turns his head and scans the area, not looking for anything in particular, _no_. He’s just… looking around.

Not even a minute later, Kuroko places a glass of Scotch in front of him, single malt, neat and with a splash of water. Just the way he likes it. “Here, Kagami-kun."

"Thanks," he whispers as he takes hold of the stem of the glass and swirls the amber liquid inside gently. Taiga brings it up to his nose, inhaling the smoky and sharp scent of it, and takes a sip, letting it settle on his tongue. He savors the slight burn of it and the sweetness after, and only then does he swallow it, smooth down his throat. He breathes out, slowly, and hums at the flavor swirling in his mouth.

As usual, Kuroko has brought him his finest Scotch. It’s good, and he can feel himself already relaxing.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kuroko asks after bringing a customer a drink a couple of stools down from him.

Taiga takes another sip, not bothering to take it slow this time, and the burn of the liquid in his throat feels great too. He then tells his friend about his day – a 24 hour shift at the station, supervising the training of new recruits, and he and his team responding to a couple of reports of minor house fires. The usual. But what wasn’t usual was that one of those fires was apparently caused by a couple of partying teenagers too high and stupid to know any better.

“I chewed the ear off the brats until they all looked reasonably chastised, but just the thought of what could have happened… I mean, if the neighbors hadn’t called to report the smoke, or if we hadn’t arrived on time…” he trails off, not wanting to really think about it any further.

“No one was hurt, though, right? So it still ended well, all things considered,” Kuroko says as he wipes a couple of glasses dry.

“Mm. Lucky, stupid bastards,” Taiga mutters as he empties his glass in one long swallow. “Hey Kuroko, give me another.”

Kuroko looks at him, almost reproachfully, the pale blue of his hair shining in the bright strobe lights of the bar. Before he can say something though – an acceptance or a refusal, he’s not sure – a lanky man who’s obviously had too much to drink comes up besides Taiga.

“Nex’ drink’s on me if ya wann’it,” the man slurs, leering down at him and smirking. Or at least that’s what Taiga thinks he’s doing. The guy looks like he’s going to vomit, actually.

“Not interested, sorry,” he says, because he’s really not. He came here to drink and talk to a friendly, familiar face, not get picked up by a drunk man. _Or woman,_  he thinks as he remembers the girl from earlier.

“Tch. Whutteva, asshole,” lanky man says, hobbling away in search of another guy to pick up, or maybe the toilet. He has been looking really green around the gills.

“Another?” Taiga asks when he looks back at Kuroko, who shakes his head at him but does refill his glass. When he takes a sip, he sighs and grins back at his friend. “So, what have you been up to?”

Kuroko turns away to serve another customer, and when he comes back, he has a small, devious smile on his face. “Kise-kun was here yesterday…”

And later, laughing at the story of Kise and the pickle and enjoying another glass of whisky, he thinks that tonight may turn out to be _not_ a crappy night after all.

 

* * *

 

He’s wrong. It gets worse.

No sooner had Kuroko finished talking than another person, this time a woman with long blonde hair, comes to sit on the empty stool beside him. She flashes him a flirtatious smile, all pouty lips and sultry eyes. “Hey, want to buy me a drink?” she whispers as she leans forward and places a hand on his forearm, her grip tight.

Taiga shoots Kuroko a pleading look, only to find that the bastard’s suddenly nowhere to be found. Figures. Hesitantly, he turns back to the woman and says in a tone he hopes is regretful, “Sorry, I’m not – ”

The blonde sneers at him before he even finishes speaking. She stands up, her nails scratching at his arm and her long hair smacking him on the face when she turns and stomps away.

“What the hell?” he mutters when she’s gone.

“Turned another one down, Kagami-kun?” Kuroko asks suddenly.

“Kuroko! Don’t just disappear on me, man.”

“I’m sorry, but I was preparing a friend’s drink. I _am_ a bartender after all.”

“Oh. A friend?” Taiga asks. He wonders if it’s that guy from earlier.

Kuroko hums in agreement as he wipes the marbled surface of the counter with a rag. “I believe I’ve told you about him before. Aomine-kun. Do you remember?”

_Aomine Daiki. Kuroko’s best friend from middle school. Plays basketball. Position – power forward. Tall, dark, and handsome (or at least, Kise says he is). And kind of a jerk._

Yes, he does remember him. But only a little and only because he’s apparently a genius at basketball. Taiga hasn’t seen him nor has he met him. And it’s not like he wants to. _Really_.

“Maybe.” He clears his throat. “Uh. He’s here?”

Kuroko’s small smirk doesn’t go unnoticed, and Taiga curses, feeling his cheeks redden. “Yes. He’s here with the other officers from the station. Do you want to – ”

“No! It’s not like I want to – ”

“– have another glass?”

“– meet… him… Oh. Um, yeah. Give me another,” he mumbles.

Kuroko turns around, supposedly to wash his hands on the sink along the back wall but most likely to hide his laughter at Taiga’s obviousness. Fuck, how embarrassing! He hides his face behind a hand and wills the flush to go away.

It’s just that, with all that Kuroko and Kise had said about him, this Aomine guy just seemed really cool. Who even does formless shots without ever missing a single one?! He really can’t be blamed for being so intrigued about the guy, okay?

“Can I sit here?” comes a sudden lilting voice beside him, and Taiga almost drops his glass in surprise.

He turns his head to the side and almost groans out in exasperation because there, standing beside him, is a brunette, small and dainty. “Sure? It’s empty.” So are the other three stools beside him, actually.

The girl smiles at him as she takes a seat.

Thank god Kuroko chooses that moment to come over and refill his drink, because damn he’s gonna need it. He’s taking a sip when the girl beside him says in a purr, “I want a Screaming Orgasm, please.”

The Scotch goes down the wrong pipe and _fuck_ it burns so bad. And as he doubles over the counter, coughing and feeling like his chest is on fire, he thinks absently – _Who the hell names these damn cocktails!_

Vaguely, he hears the girl apologizing, Kuroko’s quiet, “Here, miss. May I suggest you enjoy your Screaming Orgasm someplace else?”, and an angry hiss before the only sounds left are the noise of the crowd and the music and Taiga’s coughing, which he suffers through for another hellish minute or two.

“Water?” Kuroko asks, tone amused.

“Please,” he croaks.

And if that wasn’t enough, for the next half hour, Taiga continues to get hit on for who knows how many more times. There was a guy who called him ‘Red’ and slid a card on the pocket of his jacket, another guy who Taiga thinks might have slipped something on his drink (Kuroko threw it out, bless him), and a girl who got too close, grabbed at his pecs, and slobbered all over his ear.

“Hey – ”

Oh god, here’s another guy. Taiga’s so fucking done.

“Listen here, asshole,” he growls out behind his glass. “I don’t care if you think you’re god’s gift to man or something. I don’t want you to buy me a drink or take me home 'coz I’m not fucking interested!”

Taiga turns on his stool to face this time’s nuisance, but as soon as the last word leaves his mouth, he wants to take it back because _holy_ _shit._ He is so fucking interested.

Standing a few feet from him is perhaps, no, _surely_ , the hottest man he has ever seen in his short twenty six years of life. Taiga gives him a quick once over, and oh shit how he wants to wrap those long legs around his waist and tear off that sinfully tight Henley shirt to reveal that lean, nicely muscled body. Wants to bite and suck at the skin of his neck and find out how easy it will be to leave a mark on his beautiful tanned skin, wants to grasp the dark blue strands of his hair and stare at his equally dark blue eyes as Taiga leans in close to kiss the smirk off his lips.

He wants to. Damn, does he want to.

But even as Taiga thinks this, he sees the smirk on the guy’s face turn to a grimace and his eyes shift towards a point above Taiga’s shoulder. “Bad night, I guess?” he says – Taiga shivers at the deep huskiness of his voice – and raises a shoulder in a shrug before he downs the drink he has on one hand ( _Oh shit, was that for me?,_ Taiga thinks with despair) and turns to leave.

“Wait, I – ” Taiga starts to say, but it’s too late. The guy’s already gone.

Behind him comes Kuroko's voice, low and quietly judging, “That was Aomine-kun.”

Of course, of course it was. Tall, dark, and handsome, Kise had said. Fucking fuck.

_I fucked up._

"Fuck."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> :D
> 
> Aomine POV next chapter ~~idk when~~ :D


End file.
